


I Know

by starlight_and_seafire



Series: Damerey Week 2019 [5]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Modern AU, POV Rey (Star Wars), Pining, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-22 20:21:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21082517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlight_and_seafire/pseuds/starlight_and_seafire
Summary: A few simple words can say so much.(Or, all the ways Poe says I love you.)





	I Know

**Author's Note:**

> For Damerey Week Day 5: “I Know”, Modern AU, Sweater

“I’m an incredible bowler.”

“You’re not an incredible bowler, Finn,” Rose responds laughingly.

“I’m kind of a big deal around here.”

Rose raises an eyebrow incredulously. “The guy handing you your shoes called you Frank.”

Rey exchanges a look with Poe and hides a giggle behind her hand as they watch Finn and Rose bicker. It’s the third Saturday in the month, which means their little group gets together for an afternoon at the local bowling alley. It’s a holdover from Rey and Finn’s days in community college, both too poor and too busy to do more than head a few blocks over for a couple of games, cheap hot dogs, and even cheaper beer.

The tradition continued even as Rey transferred into the engineering program at the local university, even as Rose and Finn started dating, even as their duo turned into a trio before almost immediately turning into a quartet when Finn and Poe met in a military history class.

Poe leans in to steal one of her nachos and winks at her. She rolls her eyes at him even as her lips tip up ever so slightly in a grin.

Rose may have joined their little group when she and Finn started dating, but neither of them ever made Rey feel like the third wheel.

No, the problem was sitting right next to her, the also-single Poe Dameron. She was overjoyed that Finn and Rose had found so much happiness with each other, but on one hand she had a very happy couple sitting across from her, while next to her . . .

Next to her, Poe Dameron leans back in his chair and stretches out his legs, and when he rests his hands behind his head his t-shirt rides up, exposing just the slightest sliver of skin above his hips.

Her throat is suddenly very dry and she grabs her cup, taking the last few sips of Sprite left in it. She chides herself as she does, reminds herself that this is her _friend_, her very _good friend_, and there’s no way she’s ruining their friendship when he clearly doesn’t return her feelings.

Her attention is drawn from her thoughts when Finn and Rose’s banter reaches a crescendo.

“Just watch! I’ll admit I was a little off my game, but just you wait.” Finn points his finger at each of them in turn and repeats. “Just. You. Wait.” He gets up and strides backwards to their bowling lane, his hands making a little bring-it-on gesture as he goes.

“Oh, this is going to be fun,” Rose giggles as she stands to move closer to Finn (and, if she knows Rose — and _yep, there it is_ — to heckle Finn up close and personal) leaving Rey and Poe behind at the little table.

“Neither of them knows how to bowl to save their life,” Poe says, trailing off as he grins at Rey.

“But Rose sure knows how to heckle with the best of them,” Rey finishes, grinning back as she grabs another nacho dripping in cheese and jalapeños.

Poe stands with his empty cup in hand. “I’m gonna get a refill.” He’s the last of them to bowl, so there’s plenty of time to get there and back. It’s not exactly like the bowling alley is flush with people right now. “You want anything?”

Rey’s mouth is full, but she nods quickly and hands him the cup, trying to finish chewing so she can let him know what she’s drinking.

But before she can swallow, he just says, “Sprite. I know,” and heads towards the counter with both of their cups.

Rey blinks in surprise. She knew she was a bit of a Sprite addict; she can admit it. She practically carts around a can of it wherever she goes. She just didn’t realize anyone was actually paying attention to that.

But as she watches him go, she can’t stop the smile that rises to her face.

He knows her drink order.

It’s a nice feeling.

***

Rey knocks three times, pauses, then knocks a fourth time before letting herself in to Poe’s apartment. The rhythmic pattern is entirely muscle memory at this point and she barely realizes she’s done it until she closes the door behind her.

She doesn’t even see Poe standing right in front of her until she almost runs into him. He gently stops her with a hand to her shoulder, his other hand holding the bowl of popcorn out of her way so she doesn’t knock it to the floor.

“Whoa there. You alright, sunshine?”

She blinks once, then twice, in an effort to clear her head. She’s half upset and half angry, and she lets out a huff as she tucks some wisps of hair behind her ear.

“Work sucked. The boss tried to cut some vacation time that had been approved weeks ago. And then he added a pile of work to my desk and told me he wants me to work overtime, even though I’ve already been taking on extra hours to try to save a bit more money.” She huffs again, reaching out and digging into the bowl Poe holds out to her, a look of sympathy on his face. She stuffs a handful of popcorn in her mouth. “As if I didn’t have school and a ton of papers to write and you know, _a life_, outside of work.”

Poe draws her into a one-armed hug and murmurs in her ear, “Soon enough you’ll be his boss, we all know that. You have ten times the talent and skill in your little finger than he does in his entire body.”

She squeezes him back, relishing in the warmth and comfort. “Yes, I do.”

He laughs. “There’s my girl,” he says, and she feels her cheeks heat slightly at his words, even though he doesn’t mean it that way. “There’s a stash of candy hidden in the top of the pantry. Why don’t you grab that and bring it into the living room?”

A few moments later and she’s walking into the living room with an armful of candy and greeting Rose and Finn who are sitting on the little loveseat next to the couch, with Beebee, Poe’s rotund corgi, snuggled between them.

When Finn finally gets a look at her, he gasps in mock indignation. “Reese’s cups? You were holding out on us, Poe!” he exclaims, sounding almost scandalized.

“What can I say, maybe I just like her better,” Poe replies with a shrug.

She thinks she hears Rose snicker and looks over to see what’s so funny, but Rose just has her hand covering her mouth while Finn is looking in the completely opposite direction. Rey wonders if she misheard her. Maybe Rose was just clearing her throat or something.

But Rey’s feeling generous and she holds out a handful of her spoils to Finn who has almost as big of a sweet tooth as she does. He takes it with a wide smile and a thanks, and she turns away to head towards the open spot on the couch next to Poe.

She grins at him as she settles in with her arm full of candy and wonders if he’s feeling warm as his cheeks are redder than usual.

She hands him some of the Reese’s cups and they start the movie, but not even in the first half hour of the film, somewhere between the heist going wrong and the police beginning their chase, she gets drowsy, slides down the couch and buries herself deeper into her blanket.

The last thing she remembers is her eyes growing heavier and heavier, her head tipping sideways and . . .

And then her eyes blearily blink open and she’s snuggled up on Poe’s chest, his arm around her shoulders with his hand resting in her hair, his thumb rubbing a soothing pattern just above her ear.

It’s not the first time she’s fallen asleep like this during movie night, but when she realizes the movie is over, the love seat is empty, and the television is playing what appears to be The Great British Bake Off, she struggles to finish waking herself up.

He moves his hand away when she goes to lift her head and gives her a soft smile. “Hey, sleepyhead.”

“What time is it?” she asks, voice still husky with sleep.

“About 10:30,” he says, glancing at his wristwatch.

“Where’s Finn and Rose?”

“The movie ended about an hour ago and they headed out.”

She’s been sleeping on Poe’s shoulder for, what, almost two hours now? “They didn’t wake me to say goodbye?”

“They weren’t exactly being quiet,” he replies, grinning at her.

She’s still a little embarrassed that she was sleeping on him for so long. “You could’ve woken me. I’m sure you had other things you’d rather do.”

“I was catching up on my show,” he says, nodding towards the television where the technical challenge was about to begin. If the movie ended an hour ago, this meant it was probably the second episode. “And you seemed comfortable. Didn’t want to wake you.”

Rey couldn’t deny how comfortable she had felt when she woke up, safe and warm next to him, but even so, she felt guilty for wasting his time. “Still, I’m sorry for falling asleep on you. I didn’t realize how exhausted I was. I guess work and school and everything has just been taking a lot out of me.”

His eyes were soft as he reached out and squeezed her hand. “I know. And it’s alright. Don’t apologize.”

She’s still drowsy and it takes her a long moment to realize she’s just staring back into those warm, kind eyes of his without moving or saying anything. She clears her throat to hide her embarrassment, turns to the television and sees the judges universally pan the baker’s tarts and thankfully her brain works quick enough to say, “That’s just so wrong. What even are those things?”

“Right? You should’ve seen their faces when it was assigned. Here, let me rewind,” Poe says, picking up the remote, and she settles back into the couch to watch.

***

Another Friday evening rolls around and this time it’s Rose’s turn to host their twice-monthly board game night.

A knock sounds on the front door, and Rose practically dances over to it, hips shimmying along as Beyoncé blares from her laptop, and lets Poe in.

“Looks like I’m late to the party,” he exclaims, laughing a little as Rose dances around him.

“You’re the one with the pizza, you’re right on time,” she laughs as she points him towards the table and continues her dancing.

Rey’s eyes follow Poe as he makes his way around the couch towards the table and sets the boxes down in front of her.

There’s a single, smaller box resting atop the pizza boxes, and she thought she recognized the familiar logo when he walked in, but now that they’re sitting in front of her . . .

“You stopped at the bakery, too?” she asks, as she grabs the box to look inside. It’s from her favorite place and she’s already drooling before she even opens it up. And then, “You got the chocolate chip cookies!” She’s so excited that she hurriedly reaches in and grabs one, biting into it with relish. “These are my favorite!”

Poe smiles at her and scratches the back of his neck as he tells her, “I know.”

Then he clears his throat, grabs a cookie for himself, and goes over to greet Finn before she can even tell him thank you.

***

Her old bedroom ceiling fan, with its insanely loud grinding noise that it made at odd intervals only to pick up in intensity right at the moment she was drifting off to sleep, could not stay up another night longer.

Her pride insists that she can do this herself, but no matter how many times she strategizes the best way to get the old fan out of the ceiling and the new fan up there, she can’t figure out a workable solution unless she had at least three hands.

Then she realizes she had loaned her stepladder to Kaydel weeks ago and she still had it, and there was no way to get it from her until Kaydel got back from her vacation the following week.

She scowls at the ceiling fan and immediately texts Poe.

He responds instantaneously and arrives at her place within a half hour. She grins at him as she lets him in. “You’re a lifesaver, Poe.”

“Always happy to help,” he says, carrying in a stepladder with him. “Plus, you promised food.”

“I did, didn’t I? Let’s get this fan up there and we’ll figure out what to order then.”

They get the tools and the stepladder situated and the whole process goes so quickly and easily that she almost feels bad asking him to give up his Saturday afternoon to come over to help her. She steps down off the ladder as he finishes gathering together the trash for them to take outside. “I probably could’ve handled this myself, but still, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.”

He reaches out and squeezes her arm. “I know you could’ve. You’re the most adept person I know when it comes to mechanical stuff. But I’m always happy to help you, you just have to ask.”

She feels warmth rise to her cheeks, and she tells herself it was just because of the unexpected compliment.

But the warmth doesn’t abate as they walk side by side down to her apartment’s dumpster and toss the old fan into the garbage.

When they get back inside, she pulls out her phone and they order Chinese food. They spend the next few hours eating and talking. Poe tells her about his day and the antics of Beebee, who had apparently decided that Poe’s bedroom comforter would be much more useful as Beebee’s dog bed, and the optimal spot for it would be in a bright shaft of sunlight filtering in through the living room windows.

And if it knocked down three different plants (including the large one Rey had gotten him for his birthday four months ago, he told her sorrowfully), and a small table that held a half-full coffee mug which spilled onto the living room rug, well, Beebee was willing to pay the price.

“What do you think? Think it was worth it?” he asks, leaning towards her to show her a picture pulled up on his phone. She catches the scent of his warm, woodsy cologne, and breathes in deep, even as she smiles at the image in front of her.

Between the image of the corgi curled up in the comforter, content in the sunshine, and Poe’s warmth next to her, she feels like she’s drowning in affection for the two. She turns to him, smiling at him as she says, “Yes, I think it was totally worth it. That’s a good dog right there. You’re a lucky man.”

He blinks at her, once, then twice, and then a smile illuminates his face. “I know.”

***

“I’ll be just a few minutes more,” she calls out, knowing that Poe can hear her from the living room.

She’s standing in front of her bathroom mirror as she tries to figure out what to do with her hair. She wants to do something nice with it for once, but she’s not adept at this, she never learned how, and with a groan of frustration she works it up into a bun. That’ll have to do.

She gives her reflection one last assessing look. She doesn’t wear makeup often, but she smiles at the touch of lipstick and mascara she’s wearing. She doesn’t particularly care to do this all the time, but right now it feels nice; it makes the occasion feel a little more special. She smooths down her dress and adjusts her necklace before turning to the door.

She pauses with her hand on the doorknob, taking a few deep breaths before she heads into the living room where Poe waits for her. Butterflies have taken flight in her stomach and she’s desperately trying to contain them.

With a final breath in, she opens the door and strides into the living room where she sees the back of Poe’s head from where he’s sitting on the couch waiting for her.

“About ready to go?” he asks as he stands up and turns to face her. He stops suddenly and sucks in a breath that she can hear several feet away.

He’s as surprised to see her dressed up as she is. She barely recognized herself in the mirror.

Suddenly she’s struck by a bout of insecurity.

“What do you think? Is it too much? Not enough?” She’s meeting Leia Organa tonight. Her brother, Luke, is one of her engineering professors and recommended that Rey meet with Leia to discuss a possible role in her company after finishing college. And since her car broke down earlier that week, Poe had offered to drive her into town where she could meet Leia at the restaurant, and now she’s remembering it’s one of the nicer restaurants in town, and she’s already running late and how is she supposed to remember how to hold a fork properly while also holding a proper conversation with the esteemed — and quite frankly, legendary — Leia Organa.

_Oh god, how is this happening to her?_

A second later, all those thoughts flee from her mind as Poe steps around the couch and tells her with a voice so full of awe that she has to be imagining it, “You look beautiful.”

“You think I’m beautiful?”

He shakes his head, a soft smile playing on his lips. “Think? No, sunshine. I know,” and he’s staring at her with an expression so full of amazement and wonder that the butterflies have appeared in her stomach again, but for a different reason now. For a bright, shining, glorious moment, she thinks maybe her feelings are reciprocated.

But she doesn’t have time to think about this right now.

They have to go.

***

The air was brisk and it was only getting colder as the sun began its descent from the sky. She licked powdered sugar off her fingers as she peered into the distance, smiling at the view before her, before turning to look at the man next to her. “Thanks for coming with me.”

“It’s no problem at all, sunshine,” he replies. The cold must be getting to him too, his cheeks pink as he lifts his cup of coffee to his lips.

She loves their town’s annual fall festival, the bales of hay and pumpkins scattered about, scarecrows and ghostly decorations dotted here and there. A band plays off in the distance where most of the crowd huddles together, dancing and visiting with friends.

She particularly loves the food vendors, caramel apples and funnel cakes and hot chocolate. Luckily for her, Poe is eager to partake too, and he shares his food with her as she continues her quest to try all of the sweets offered at the festival.

She knocks her shoulder gently against his, careful not to jostle his cup too much. “Well, I appreciate it anyway.” Finn and Rose were supposed to have come with them to the festival, but they headed out of town at the last minute to celebrate the arrival of Rose’s sister’s new baby.

So, it had just been the two of them.

Rey smiles as she pinches the last few pieces of the funnel cake between her fingers. She hadn’t had this much fun in a long time. They had danced, Poe twirling her around while she laughed delightedly, the fast pace of the song matching the beat of her heart as he pulled her close again. Then he had won her a prize from one of the games, and while she clutched a tiny stuffed panda to her chest, she threw her own set of darts at the balloons set up behind the counter.

As she handed Poe the large stuffed bear she had won, the crowd around them applauded and he blushed at the attention.

She couldn’t help but tease him about her win which he accepted good naturedly before challenging her to the milk bottle toss.

She won that game too.

She swallows the last bite of food, looking mournfully down at her plate.

“You want another?”

“No, I think that’s enough,” she says. Her stomach is full and she hasn’t eaten anywhere near this much sugar in a long time, even with her impressive sweet tooth. But still, she almost considers getting another just to keep the evening going. She doesn’t want it to end quite yet. But the sun’s getting lower and lower and they need enough light to walk back through the park to where Poe lives so she can get her car. So, she asks reluctantly, “You about ready to go?”

“If you want.”

She nods and Poe stands and holds out his hand to help her up. His hand is warm in hers, a delightful counterpoint to the chill, and the feeling lingers even as they toss their empty plates and cups into the trash and head to the walking trail.

It only gets colder as they get deeper into the park, the sun hidden behind the trees now, and she shivers.

A second later and Poe is shrugging out of his jacket and holding it out to her.

She doesn’t want him to get cold either, but she can’t help but eye the jacket, imagining its extra warmth. “What about you?”

“I’ve still got my sweater,” he says, smiling softly at her as he continues to hold out his jacket.

She finally nods and takes it, and his smile widens. Then he unfurls the scarf from his neck, carefully winding it around her neck as she buttons the jacket.

She can’t quite bring herself to protest, the jacket already warming her up delightfully. Still, she asks, “You sure?”

“It’s alright. I know you get cold easily.”

There’s that phrase again. She’s been noticing it more and more frequently. Or maybe she’s just been noticing the way it makes her insides turn soft and warm when he says it. “You know?”

“Of course I know.” He brushes his hands over the scarf once again, making sure the material sits warm and cozy around her neck.

He’s close enough that she can feel his breath against her face, and she blinks up at him. He seems to suddenly realize just how close they’re standing and she sees him swallow, but before he can pull back, she wraps her fingers around his wrists, keeping him close.

“You do know, don’t you?” Hope swirls in her chest, and she needs to know, is it possible . . . “Why?”

Poe’s eyes widen and a flush springs to his cheeks as he says, “Isn’t it obvious?” He just keeps gazing into her eyes, and she doesn’t look away, feeling like she’s on the precipice of something great. “I care for you. I – I love you. Of course I know you.”

There are a million things she wants to say but she’s just standing there stunned. She can’t decide what to say first.

She finally settles on kissing him, cradling his cheek in her hand as she leans in to press her lips to his.

He gasps against her mouth before returning the kiss. One of his hands tangles with hers while the other drops to her waist to hold her close.

When she pulls back, she knows exactly what to say. “I love you, too.”

This time it’s Poe’s turn to look stunned. “You do?”

“Yes, I do.” She laughs, the sound absolutely giddy. “And you love me, too.”

Poe’s smile is bright, affectionate, _loving_. “Yes, I do.”

“This is the best day ever,” she says smiling back at him, absolutely overwhelmed with the love and affection she feels for the man standing in front of her.

His laughter, bright and joyful, warms her heart. “I know.”


End file.
